I wrote about paradox in Warrior’s Quest and part of the motivating force was this poem. It takes real courage to accept paradox and hold the tension. The hole in the whole completes the whole.
Thirty spokes
meet in the hub.
Where the wheel isn’t
is where it’s useful.
Hollowed out,
clay makes the pot.
Where the pot’s not
is where it’s useful.
Cut doors and windows
to make a room.
Where the room isn’t
there’s room for you.
So the profit in what is
is in the use of what isn’t.
Lao Tzu
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About ivonprefontaine
I completed a PhD at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA. Previously, I taught for 20 years and taught for 15 years in a wonderful hybrid school. My dissertation topic and research were how certain teachers experience becoming who teachers. In teaching and leanring, I am a boundary-crosser who understands moving ahead is a leap of faith.
Teaching is a calling and vocation to express who I am as a person. Currently, I am waiting and listening to what calls me next. I am an educator, phenomenologist, scholar, boundary-crosser, published poet, author, parent, grandparent, and spouse.
great
Thank you Bert. Sometimes we need to find the wise words in the old.
Interestingly narrated. “The hole in the whole completes the whole” is good observation.
It is. I find I am so busy trying to fill the hole that I do not realize the hole is part of the whole. It is kind of like a doughnut that way.
Welcome sir.
‘It takes real courage to accept paradox and hold the tension.’
Amen to that!
Absolutely.
Gotta love the paradox.
Paradox has a beauty attached to it that is so inviting. Despite the tension the stress is low.